US Pollack confirms meeting with Argentine delegation tomorrow, without holdouts

Argentina will send a negotiation team to New York today for further talks with a US court-appointed mediator Daniel Pollack in its debt dispute with "holdout" investors, Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich said earlier, with just three days left to avert a default. In a statment released today, Pollack confirmed he will be receiving the Argentine delegation at his office tomorrow at 12 pm (Argentina time) and he "urged direct, face-to-face conversations with the Bondholders, but that will not happen tomorrow."

Argentina has until Wednesday to either pay the New York hedge funds suing for full repayment on their bonds or reach a deal.

Otherwise, barring a suspension of the court-ordered July 30 deadline, Argentina will default for the second time in 12 years.

Pollack has issued two statements in hours this morning. In the latest, he said: "I received a telephone call from the Government of the Republic of Argentina advising me that the delegation of Technical, Financial and Legal representatives of the Republic who were in my office last Thursday and, briefly, on Friday morning, will fly from Buenos Aires tonight to meet with me tomorrow at 11:00 am." "I again urged direct, face-to-face conversations with the Bondholders, but that will not happen tomorrow," the statement added.

Negotiations have made scant progress in the past three weeks. If the deadlock persists, US District Judge Griesa will prevent Argentina from making a July 30 deadline for a coupon payment on exchanged bonds.

Argentina argues it cannot cut a deal now that risks breaking a clause barring the country from offering better terms to investors than those in the bond swaps that were accepted by 92.4 percent of its creditors in 2005 and 2010.

A group of those "exchange bondholders" has offered to waive the so-called RUFO clause, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources.

The FT reported that holders of more than $4 billion of Argentina's discount and par eurobonds sent a letter to Pollack offering to speed the settlement talks. Pollack did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.